KIM
JONG IL
ON THE
JUCHE IDEA
Treatise
Sent to the National Seminar on the Juche
Idea Held to Mark the 70th Birthday of
the
Great Leader Comrade Kim Il Sung
March
31, 1982
...
1.
THE ORIGIN OF THE JUCHE IDEA
A
progressive idea plays an important role in
socio-historical progress.
When
the popular masses are guided by a
progressive idea, they can be a powerful
creator of history. Of course, it does not
mean that all progressive ideas play the
same role in socio-historical development.
Their role is different according to how
they represent the aspirations and interests
of the popular masses and how correctly they
show the path which must be followed in
struggle. There were ideas which reflected
the aspirations of progressive classes of
society even before the emergence of the
working class. But due to their historical
and class limitations the trends of thought
in the past age could not but be hampered in
the role they played in social development.
The revolutionary ideas of the working class
alone can correctly reflect the demands of
the time and the aspirations of the popular
masses and give a powerful stimulus to
socio-historical development by inspiring
the people to wage the revolutionary
struggle.
The
revolutionary ideas of the working class are
originated by distinguished leaders.
It
can be said that the history of the
communist movement spanning a hundred and
scores of years is a history of
working-class leaders creating and
developing revolutionary ideas, a history in
which these ideas have been applied to
transform the world. In the mid-19th century
Marx and Engels propounded Marxism. Thus
they highlighted the historical mission and
a path of liberation that had to be followed
by the working class that appeared on the
arena of struggle and stimulated the fight
against capital, ushering in the rise of the
international communist movement. Lenin
developed Marxism and advanced Leninism in
accordance with the new historical
conditions whereby capitalism had entered
the phase of imperialism, with the result
that he inspired the working class and the
rest of the people to the struggle to
destroy imperialist strongholds and to
achieve freedom and liberation. This marked
the beginning of transition from capitalism
to socialism.
Our
leader created the great Juche idea after
acquiring a deep insight into the
requirements of a new era when the oppressed
and humiliated masses of the people became
masters of their own destiny. Thus he
developed their struggle for independence
onto a higher plane and opened up the age of
Juche, a new era in the development of human
history.
The
revolutionary idea of the working class
emerges as the reflection of the mature
demand of history and the revolution in
their development.
When
the leader embarked on the road of
revolution, a new development was taking
place in the struggle of the working class
and the popular masses against exploitation
and oppression. On the world arena, the
influence of socialism, which had won its
first victory, grew strong, and the
revolutionary struggle of the working class
and the liberation struggle of the peoples
in colonies and semi-colonies were
intensified sharply. In an attempt to stop
the revolutionary advance of the masses and
weather the serious political and economic
crises they were passing through, the
imperialists further increased their plunder
and oppression of the people. In many
countries contradictions and antagonism
between revolution and counter-revolution
were intensified, and the masses of the
people whose sovereign rights had been
trampled down for a long time rose up in a
struggle for their class and national
liberation. A new age was approaching, in
which the revolutionary movement made
progress in a broad and diversified way on a
worldwide scale.
In
order to advance the revolution under the
new historical conditions, the working class
and the people of every country, conscious
of being the masters, had to solve all
problems in accordance with their actual
situation. In our country, this was a
particularly important matter because of the
peculiarities of historical development and
the complexity and arduousness of the
revolution. The Korean revolution demanded
more urgently that the popular masses hew
out the path of revolution in an independent
and creative manner.
The
Juche idea was created on the basis of such
a practical requirement of the Korean
revolution.
The
revolution is a struggle to meet the masses’
desire for independence by enlisting their
strength. It is a struggle of the masses to
free themselves. When they are armed with
the revolutionary idea and united into an
organized political force, the masses can
emerge victorious in the revolution. The
duty of revolutionaries is to go among the
popular masses, masters of the revolution,
to educate, organize, and inspire them to a
struggle. The revolutionary forces, too.
should be trained from among the masses, and
all problems arising in the revolutionary
struggle should likewise be resolved in
reliance on their wisdom and strength.
However,
the communists and nationalists who were
allegedly engaged in the national-liberation
movement in our country in the 1920’s gave
no thought to the need to go among the
masses to educate, organize, and arouse them
into waging a revolutionary struggle. But
divorced from the masses they were only
engrossed in the scramble for hegemony and
empty talks. They did not unite the masses
but divided them by factional strife.
In
the first years of his revolutionary
struggle, the leader saw through their
mistakes and took a road different from
theirs, the genuinely revolutionary road
which led him to be among the masses and to
rely on them in the struggle. He elucidated
the truth that the masters of the revolution
are the masses of the people and that when
one goes among them to educate and mobilize
them one will be able to register victory in
the revolution. This is one of the starting
points of the Juche idea.
The
revolution in each country should be carried
out responsibly by its own people, the
masters, in an independent manner, and in a
creative way suitable to its specific
conditions. Independence and creativeness
are the inherent requirements of a
revolutionary movement, the communist
movement.
The
Korean revolution which opened the age of
Juche could not advance even a step forward
unless it was conducted in an independent
and creative way from the start. It was a
difficult and complex revolution which had
to deal with the tasks of the
anti-imperialist, national-liberation
revolution, with formidable Japanese
imperialism as the target, and those of the
anti-feudal, democratic revolution
simultaneously. It was an arduous revolution
which had to hew out an untrodden path.
What
is worse, a strong tendency towards
flunkeyism appeared in those days within our
anti-Japanese national-liberation movement
and communist movement to hamper the advance
of the revolution. The nationalists and
self-styled Marxists followed the evil
practices of flunkeyism and factional strife
which had resulted in the country’s ruin in
the past. They did not try to carry out the
revolution by their own initiative but
dreamed of achieving independence by
depending on foreign forces. At that time,
those who were allegedly engaged in the
communist movement formed their own party
groups and called frequently at the
Comintern to gain its recognition. And they
endeavoured to imitate mechanically
established theories and experience of
others, without taking into consideration
the historical conditions and specific
realities in our country where a colonial
and semi-feudal society was in existence. In
this way, flunkeyism and dogmatism were very
serious obstacles in the way of revolution.
Drawing
on serious lessons derived from such
flunkeyism and dogmatism, the leader
clarified the truth that a revolution should
be carried out not by anyone’s approval or
instruction but by one’s own conviction and
on one’s own responsibility and that all
problems arising in the revolution should be
solved in an independent and creative way.
This is another starting point of the Juche
idea.
As
stated previously, the leader advanced the
Juche idea, a new revolutionary idea, on the
basis of practical experience and lessons
gained in the revolutionary struggle.
The
leader has conducted ideological and
theoretical activities invariably based on
the revolutionary practice, and developed
and enriched the revolutionary idea and
theories in the course of giving answers to
problems arising in the revolutionary
practice. Only on the basis of revolutionary
practice can one apply existing theories in
accordance with the interests of the
revolution and actual conditions in one’s
own country and search for new truths and
create new ideas and theories.
In
his early years of revolutionary activities,
the leader was well versed in
Marxism-Leninism. But he did not confine
himself to applying Marxism-Leninism to the
Korean revolution but pioneered a new phase
of revolutionary theory from a steadfast
Juche-based standpoint and resolved the
problems arising in the revolutionary
practice from a unique angle.
The
leader discovered the truth of Juche idea in
the course of the struggle against bigoted
nationalists and bogus Marxists, flunkeyists
and dogmatists, while hewing out a new path
for the revolution. Finally, he explained
the principles of the Juche idea at the
Meeting of Leading Personnel of the Young
Communist League and the Anti-Imperialist
Youth League held at Kalun in June 1930 and
put forward a Juche-oriented line for the
Korean revolution. This was a historical
event which heralded the creation of the
Juche idea and the birth of the
Juche-oriented revolutionary line.
At
the time of disorder when national
reformism, “Left” and Right opportunism and
all other unsound ideas were prevailing, the
leader still in his teens gained an insight
into the trend of the times, the desire of
the people and the law of historical
development, expounded the truth of Juche
and thus opened the road of independent
development for our revolution.
The
Juche idea has been perfected as the guiding
idea of revolution in our age in the
practice of the Korean revolution.
The
guiding idea of revolution cannot be made
perfect by one effort at a moment. It
emerges through the generalization of
experience in the revolutionary struggle, on
the basis of the conditions of the times and
history: it becomes perfect as an integrated
ideological and theoretical system when its
truthfulness is verified and its content is
enriched during the protracted struggle.
The
leader led to victory the revolutionary
struggles at different stages and the work
in all fields of politics, economy, culture
and military affairs. In this course, he
himself gained a wealth of precious
experience and generalized it to steadily
develop the Juche idea in a profound manner.
The history of the leader who has led the
arduous Korean revolution for more than 50
years, is a history in which he created the
Juche idea and perfected it as a unique
ideological and theoretical system in the
great revolutionary practice.
As
stated previously, the Juche idea emerged on
the basis of the requirements of a new age
when the masses of the people appeared as
the masters of history and of a rich
experience gained in the revolutionary
struggle. So it has become the great guiding
idea of revolution in our age.